CLASSIC VIDEO - BIG BUD SHOOTOUT: THE EARLY YEARS

the big bud shootout featuring a showdown between eight of the finest fiberglass bodied funny cars driven by eight of the best drivers in the world that thread the needle through the quarter mile race track at speeds topping 250 miles an hour with elapsed times of less than six seconds hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland and i'm located in what might be called the heart of any drag strip the race control center or tower and this one here at indianapolis raceway park is getting ready to supervise an exciting new program developed by the national hot rod association the big bud shootout this is an all-out go for it race between eight of the fastest funny cars in the world and each of the drivers will be trying to have his name placed on that check for 25 000 that goes to the winner to find out how these eight got here today let's join a man that knows almost everything about championship drag racing steve evans thank you dave the eight drivers that have attracted this huge crowd here today have been competing for this privilege all season long at the past nine nhra national championship events a careful record has been kept as to how all funny cars qualified at the end of qualifying the drivers receive points depending on how they performed uh for example in a 16 car field the low et number one qualifier received 175 points the slowest car in the field number 16 received 85 points after the recent north star nationals the points were tallied and the top eight drivers were rewarded with a chance to make twenty five thousand dollars for a single afternoon's work well so much about how the drivers got here now let's learn more about the machines they'll be competing in today and to handle that chore a fella who knows well maybe even a little bit more than i do about this sport he's a two-time funny car national champion kenny bernstein thank you steve and you're absolutely correct these are outstanding race cars they are certainly very much crowd pleasers as they are very pretty they're wild they go fast and make noise one of the reasons many of us enjoy driving them is because they go so fast many times 250 miles an hour in the quarter mile and they get there with this baby a 2 000 horsepower nitro burning fuel motor that with the right chassis clutch and fuel mixture can give you the thrill of your life in five seconds so this is the funny car a complex and sophisticated machine and you're going to see eight of the best in the world today it's simply going to be phenomenal dave thank you kenny and here's where they'll be racing indianapolis raceway park using the standard nhra eliminator ladder for an eight-car field let's take a look at the pairings the number four qualifier tommy anderson goes off against number eight dale baldy the number three qualifier frank hawley against number seven al sagrini number two that's raymond beatle in the blue max against don brudeau number six and the number one qualifier billy meyer against gary burgin number five ready for racing in the first round of the big bud shootout at indianapolis raceway park we've got eight of the finest 250 mile an hour plenty cars in the world in the near lane tommy anderson doing his burnout he'll be racing against dale baldy in round number one of this eight-car field dale pulte from van nuys california grew up in the streets racing cars but now he's driving the war eagle and will certainly be a favorite today tom anderson from mcadon new york is excellent on the storyline has super reactions here's tommy anderson he's completing his burnout and he's continuing to roll down the racetrack looks like he's out of competition kenny what's the matter dave i'm not sure not being down there but it's obvious the engine is still running but he's not stopping he probably has got a brake problem what a disappointment for tommy anderson is he's out of competition dale pulley with an easy single in the first round of the big bud shootout here's our next pair of cars in the far lane it's al sagrini while here in the near lane it is frank hawley frank holly reflects on the star-studded funny car fields in which he competed early in his career back in the early 80s uh the funny car fields were absolutely tremendous they're great now but what we had back then was what i would call all the career drivers they were lifers we had the kenny bernsteins and the raymond beatles the billy myers and to be in a field like that with with those names was was absolutely exhilarating because i was a young guy came out of canada drove alcohol cars got a chance to drive the shy town hustler was really exciting and i just couldn't wait to get out on the racetrack and see if we could compete against these guys this could be a close race steve had a chance to ask frank hawley about the two cars we've raised allen two final rounds at the national events and we beat him twice they've both been pretty close races uh this race he's running 91 and a 92 we've run an 88 and a 93. that sounds about an even draw to me i'm just going to have to be a sharp on the starting line and that's where so many races are won right here on the starting line of this quarter mile racing surface both cars starting from a standing start covering 1320 feet in the far lane al sagrini frank hawley he is confident but he knows he's up against a tough competitor in starting line sagrini rockets frank hawley has a bit of a lead early in the race and at the finish line by a car length frank hawley wins it an outstanding 5.89 second elapsed time and i think al sagrini really hurt an engine on this run here you see frank hawley with about a car length lead at that point and that's all he gets through the quarter mile as al sagrini right with him but at the finish line al sagrini just fries an engine climbing out of the car getting his helmet off the winner of the first ever side-by-side five-second funny car race and one step closer to 25 000 frank holly thank you very much well i saw him for a little bit and then uh drove around him and it seemed about three four hundred feet and i never saw him after that he appeared to have a slight edge off the line he has every time we've raced him so that's not the new all right you'll get ready for the second round uh who do you want to race there i don't even know who race i have the superstition about worrying who we run and all i was worried about right then was al and i'm sure nhra or someone knows who we're supposed to race and we'll be there okay great golly one step closer to the big payoff thank you steve frank moving away from the oh he's going over to shake hands with al sagrini well i'll tell you whatever al sukrini and bill schultz tried it didn't work our next two funny car drivers have a total of seven world championships between them in the near lane raymond beatle with three and in the far lane don prudhomme has four time per dome from granada hills california is the winningest funny car driver in the history of racing and from my home state of texas raymond beatle and the fabulous blue max and boy i hope he has texas power well kenny the two of them represent one of the longest standing rivalries in the history of the sport steve talked to both of them you know snake's always our toughest competitor day in and day out i mean sometimes we're really hot like we've been at early in the year later on the year we've fallen off a little bit with our low qualifying uh he's come on strong here lately so i mean everything comes in cycles you're not always up and you're not always down tell you truth we're going to try and take it as easy as we can we don't know how we're really set for this race uh uh we're we're you know we're just a little bit of a loss right now the car is running terribly good but also it's using the parts we have another good motor in it we've changed some things on it if it lives it'll it'll run the distance of course that's the thought on both racers minds at the moment if it lives if the parts breakage problem does not enter into it this can be a great race and don for dome just streaks away from raymond beatle off the starting line and at the finish there's some smoke out of the headers he may have heard it 5.97 seconds his speed only 203 miles an hour our next pair of cars already started it's gary burgin against the number one qualifier billy meyer from waco texas steve is in the turnaround area and has caught up with don prudhomme let's find out his reaction to what may have been a costly run don perdum removing the special breather helmet he has survived round one here of this 25 thousand dollar war snake a little smoke in the lights but still a five second elapsed time so i think the rods are still in it it's amazing we can fix the rest all right pistons are easy it's when you start breaking the bottom end right yeah no problem i think i run a lot better next round okay beetle always tough yeah sure he's tough but you know in this bud shootout he might it's in his stuff and you know of course raymond's a good racer did you soften it up a little bit take some more power out yeah yeah we've been destroying parts we just backed it unfair that 80 or 90 would do it and we better put a little more in it now the 90 the don predome refers to is the 597 elapsed time that it took him to defeat raymond beedle the blue back our final pair of cars in the first round of competition number one qualifier billy meyer against this car gary burgin gary bergen from stanton california can be considered the underdog in this race but usually plays a role as a spoiler billy meyer yet another texan drives a super fast 250 mile an hour rocket a tremendous challenge by gary burgin as he pulls a lead over billy meyer and gary bergen the upset winner over the number one qualifier billy meyer that big win earns him a semifinals birth against frank holly while don trudeau will be racing dale baldi [Music] and it is hawley against bergen and it is as close as you can imagine but look at holly pull it out at the finish line his elapsed time only six seconds flat maybe something went wrong with bergen's car let's watch again as they near the timing traps at the end of the strip [Music] and it is bergen with the lead but there you see the puff of smoke indicating maybe something went wrong all right now uh six flat that's probably not going to win this you're already on the payroll but there's a big discrepancy between twenty five thousand and five thousand runner-up well the race isn't over yet did we get runner-up we still got a chance of winning this deal oh i know you did yeah and uh you know the sixth flat you know a lot of things can happen between now and the final all right gary burgin over here to talk to gary just a moment if i could um a very good race frank didn't even know he won yeah it blew a clutch out of it about thousand foot he just died just died right there on you so gary bergen very very disappointed because uh going out this round he did not get on the payroll as hollywood mechanical problems putting bergen on the trailer for the day two cars remain in the big bud shootout semi-final round it is dale poldy in the far lane don trudeau in the near lane the winner of this race will earn the right to go against frank hawley in the final aiming for that 25 thousand dollar payoff a lot of work goes on on these cars between rounds of racing and back in dale pauldy's pit before this race you see the motor being disassembled steve was there watching the action bill pulley you got a second motor okay uh no it's a little worse for wear when it left the starting line it shook real hard and it broke a fuel line nozzle off the engine and burn it to the ground it's a good thing you got a gift around one yeah cause he would blow me away there's a guy across the way over here some people call him the snake he says you better step on this yeah i don't think there's enough room to step on if he runs one of those 563s on me the 563 referred to by dale baldy is the elapsed time recorded yesterday by don prudop that is the quickest elapsed time in the history of drag racing for one of these fiberglass bodied funny cars in the far lane dale baldy in the near lane don bruno and boy bruno is glued to the ground pauldie having problems but predom look at the elapsed time 5.82 seconds he'll have lane choice going into the final of the big bud shootout against frank hawley remember the winner takes home 25 000 in k back in indianapolis raceway park i'm dave mcclelland along with kenny bernstein and steve evans and we're set for the final showdown in the big fudge shootout the rising superstar in funny car racing frank hawley driving the tri-town hustler against the crafty kg veteran don the snake bruto the four-time world champion frank holly against fredo in the big bud shootout frank holly building a lead right off the starting line and he holds on to it frank holly wins 25 000 an elapsed time of 5.85 seconds we can hear the crowd screaming and soon we're going to see what a 25 000 smile looks like on the face of frank holly of london ontario canada driving the midwest favorite funny car the chai town hustler and there it is congratulations thank you steve what a car race you out ran the snake an 85 to a 92. we thought we could do it i mean it slowed down the last round because we had to change ahead we put it back and said well we'll let it burn this time how does it feel to be part of the richest ever side-by-side drag race outstanding diamond p sports presents championship drag racing from the national hot rod association the big bud shootout featuring a showdown between eight of the finest fiberglass bodied funny cars driven by eight of the best drivers in the world that thread the needle through the quarter mile race track at speeds topping 250 miles an hour with elapsed times of less than six seconds the big bug shootout hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland we're at indianapolis raceway park and we're right in race control central getting ready for the running of the big bud shootout a 25 000 top prize has been posted and we have the eight best funny cars in the world throughout this entire season all of the funny cars at nhra national events have been competing for qualifying points to earn the right to race today in the big bud shootout the funny car is a 2500 horsepower fiberglass bodied crowd pleaser to learn more about it let's go to steve evans the funny car was born the day the first racer figured out that if he moved the rear axle closer to the front axle shortening the wheelbase he'd get better traction it worked too but the fans in the stand said well those are funny cars and they did funny things too like pick up the front wheels every time they left the starting line along came bigger engines superchargers fuel injection as the cars went faster the crowds got bigger then detroit always quick to discover a good thing said let's put some of our bodies on these machines maybe they'll help sell cars the racers said no they're too heavy make them out of fiberglass and we'll use them the national hot rod association befitting the other eliminator categories decided to call it experimental stock but the fans wanted funny cars and david it's funny cars will all get today in the big bud shootout and we've got the best in the country all season long these drivers have been qualifying at a 16 car field the number one qualifier would earn 175 points while the number 16 qualifier would earn 85. these points were totaled and these are the drivers in the big bud shootout mark oswald number one number seven and eight kenny bernstein and al sagrini they just barely made it just earning the right a couple of weeks ago at the recent north star national and here is al sagrini the engine getting started for the first race of the day in the big bud shootout these fiberglass funny cars utilizing a replica body of elite model american car with 2500 horsepower engines powered by a blend of nitro methane and alcohol supercharged and fuel injected and you see al sagrini tight inside that tubular roll cage and the wheelie bars on the back of the car designed to keep the front wheels on the ground as they leave the starting line don brudom one of the most famous racers of all time against sagrini here in this first round race of the big bud shootout sagrini qualified eighth in this program just barely making the field as we told you a few short weeks ago while don prudhomme with 1105 points qualified in the number four position the burnout procedure designed to heat those huge tires the rubber actually working better the hotter it becomes al sagrini has got to be considered the underdog based on qualifying points and earlier steve evans had a chance to visit with sagrini in the background i can hear don frankie has restarted his car what's going on over there do you think well i mean don you know he's a perfectionist and he's a true competitor and he's over there he doesn't like the way it sounds i'm hoping he'll fool with a little more and maybe dial that 585 away a lot of people are picking you over the snake well i hope so well you know we've been consistent snakes run at 5.99 and he ran that 585 and both of our runs have been right there we're on 250 so we'll be there we went over to don predom's bid area to watch the conclusion of that second warm-up steve then chatted with the man they call the snake don you warmed the car up a couple of times this morning everything okay yeah it seems to be uh you know it's a new day and we're just adjusting for the air and trying to get enough temperature in it and see if it takes a throttle ride and so far it seems all right you've got a performance advantage on paper anyway in time trial is over so granny yeah just uh the main thing we're battling here is consistency you know the car needs to run consistent and um didn't keep repeating itself uh sagrini's uh run more quicker elapsed times in than we have consistently and that's what we're going to be battling we hope that we can keep on into the 580 bracket to win the event on the starting line for the first race in the first round of the big bud shootout 25 thousand dollar top prize at stake don pradome in the far lane now sagrini in the near lane and sagrini with a big advantage off the starting line and at the finish line he extends it al sagrini wins the race and don predomes grew very very disappointed 5.93 the elapsed time his speed 244 miles an hour as we watch again al sagrini took advantage of don perdome from the moment the christmas tree went green sagrini moving ahead at the very start of the race and from that point on there was no catching the easton massachusetts flash as al sagrini headed to the end of the quarter mile with a definite advantage over don prudhomme so there you have your first winner in the first round of the big bud shootout it is al sagrini velasquerini left first and lead don perdum wired a wire with a 593 l great great i'm telling you well i told you we just want to be consistent and just keep running around 93 yesterday repeat i'm very happy the car didn't shake it ran really good you must hold your breath hoping those tires don't smoke when you don't have lane choice like that yeah well it spun them on the dry but it was awesome like that's the way i like it had a lot of power but it spawned when craig indicated that it was spreading them a little bit so it took a little longer i got a little more heat in it hopefully it would you know hold this time it held so that dry burnout is kind of a pre-booth for you yeah we'll tell it tells the driver if it'll take all the power how to apply the throttle whether really stand on or just kind of you know drive it to the store good luck round two thank you now referring to craig berry one of his crewmen the big bud shootout is being brought to you by budweiser the king of fears and proud sponsor of the us olympic team for all you do this bud's for you kenny bernstein takes on world champion frank hawley next on the big bud shootout to the big bud shootout the eight best funny cars in the world taking dead aim on that 25 000 top prize the defending champion frank hawley and the chi-town hustler the engine coming to life while we were away there was some confusion over who was going to run in this near lane the number three qualifier hawley has the lane choice he selected the near lane leaving his competition kenny bernstein the number seven qualifier in the far lane actually this race is a rematch of the finals of the north star nationals just a couple of weeks ago when frank hawley who is the defending big bud shootout champion met kenny bernstein at brainerd minnesota for all the honors at the north star nationals bernstein qualified seventh just made it at the north star nationals in qualifying while frank hawley the reigning world champion easily qualified in the number three spot but at the north star nationals in that finals just two short weeks ago kenny bernstein in the near lane against frank hawley in the chi-town hustler in the far lane a green light on both lanes and kenny bernstein by a few feet takes home the win steve had a chance to talk to frank hawley about that loss the last time we saw this man kenny bernstein was in the final round of the north star nationals he was a car length ahead of this man the world champion the defending big bud champion frank hawley you're going to let him do that to you again well i didn't think we're going to let him do that to us at the north star nationals but it just turned out like that we left the starting line i left a little bit first gosh halfway down i saw a red car and and it just stayed like that for the whole race so we're not really vengeful but we don't plan on that happening again this is an entirely new race day in the near lane it is the chi-town hustler with frank hawley the defending champion in the big bud shootout kenny bernstein in the far lane and what a drag race and just at the finish line kenny bernstein pulls it out look at the times 5.90 at over 251 miles an hour one of the fastest times ever by a funny car as both cars leave the starting line together you see the front wheels just dancing off the pavement those huge rear slicks grabbing the asphalt for traction look at the lead by frank hawley just off the starting line but at the middle of the track here comes bernstein in his move he is moving towards the finish line pulling ahead and there just by a few feet kenny bernstein defeats the defending champion in an upset kenny bernstein comes from behind at a sensational 251 miles an hour the cap has blown off the magneto the blower belt is gone kenny bernstein had the hammer down pushing the throttle through the bell housing to get around frank hawley and i'm not even sure if he knows he won you did an absolute repeat of the last time these two fellows met the north star nationals in brainerd minnesota he was out on you a little bit and from behind you came like a rocket yeah he did he left on me a little he got me and then it just started hauling i kept watching him and watching him and then he started to disappear and then all of a sudden she exploded the lore about came off and boom and i didn't know if i won but because i right then was when i thought i got around him 251 the fastest you've ever been fastest that we've ever been that's it uh good it's nice but we've got some damage i'm a little worried now kenny bernstein the man that just barely made the field puts the defending champion out in round number one the favorite in this race is in the near lane that's ken beanie he is matched against john force beanie from wadsworth ohio qualified second 1195 points to john force from california he's the number six qualifier 950 points both cars capable of running over 250 miles an hour all eyes on the starting line in the christmas tree and a great start but john force with a big lead he is continuing to extend it and john force easily wins another upset as the number two qualifier goes out force wins it at 5.87 seconds to 247 miles an hour you know upset has to be on the mind of this lady her husband mark oswalt is the number one qualifier driving this car the candies and hughes entry out of houma louisiana in the three races we've seen thus far it's all been upset the number one qualifier has got to face the number five qualifier tommy anderson can he upset mark oswalt one of the men that lost the defending big bud shootout champion frank hawley frank holly you did your job you were out on kenny about 400th of a second much as you were the last time you two met yeah well that was a little more but uh it doesn't seem to matter a lot if you lose those guys been running real good there was a big discrepancy over lane choice we changed and it spun and shook the tires pretty good but you were ahead of me most of the way when did you first see him the last mile an hour late and he'd come by us real hard and i figured there was a chance that he had caught us but i wasn't real sure until i saw you guys run over to him but i didn't see him till after the finish line you can't ask for better drag racing than that when you guys aren't even sure who won that's a good drag race and obviously disappointed frank hawley the defending big bud shootout champion out in the first round of competition our number one qualifier mark oswald's in the near lane tommy anderson the number five qualifier with 1105 points driving for jimmy madden alan aranek will be racing in the far lane mark oswald for candies and hughes qualified number one a staggering 1265 points the burnouts are completed and now the concentration of the drivers will be on that electronic device standing in the center of the racetrack it's called a christmas tree and it is designed to give an equal start to both drivers the yellow light will flash for four tenths of a second and then the green light and then both drivers leave tommy anderson losing a bit of control that gives an advantage to mark oswald and the number one qualifier records the low elapsed time of round number one racing 5.86 seconds at over 250 miles an hour the pairings for round number two mark oswald with lane choice over kenny bernstein and john force will race al sagrini let's go back to the pits and join steve evans this is what a supercharger pulley the bottom pulley is supposed to look like here you see kenny bernstein holding what is left of the bottom pulley on his car at over 251 miles an hour the rpm just exploded it well that's what happened exactly it was going so fast spinning so hard it just disintegrated it exactly so it's really good news in a way because what caused everything else was the blower belt slinging around well the blower belt came off and the pulley also punctured our oil line which threw oil all over the car so it's not as bad as we thought the only major damage is this and a little body damage here guys just pop riveting that back together we're gonna put some fiberglass back together magneto blew the cap off of it but we've got a magneto to go in it but no it's good news uh this isn't supposed to happen it could happen early in the race you'd lose it just happened at the right time go get them okay as kenny bernstein's crew continues to work we're getting ready for the semi-finals of the big bud shootout big bud shootout at indianapolis raceway park i'm dave mcclelland along with steve evans and we're ready for the semifinal round this man mark oswald in his driving suit now just a few moments ago was hard at work not too many years ago you only took one of these drag racing engines apart if you thought something was wrong with it you prided yourself on saying never took the heads off all day but there's too much at stake now plus the engines are for a better design they're really uh designed to come apart very quickly and go back together quickly even though nothing appeared to be wrong with the candies in his engine mark oswald and crew tom cattleman underneath have taken all eight pistons out of it they'll replace any that even look marginal even if it's just a tight piston ring tom cattleman under the car with the oil pan off checking every one of the bearings rod bearings and main bearings what's so incredible is it a complete engine overhaul like this and that's really what it is is done in a matter of 45 minutes last time i took my car into a garage for similar service i got it back in two months steve and you're not even trying to go 250 miles an hour but these two drivers are mark oswald in the near lane kenny bernstein in the far lane bernstein of course the upset winner over the defending big bud shootout champion here in the semi-final round of racing it's single elimination there are four cars remaining we started with eight mark oswald came into this field the number one qualifier the best performing car in the country and the great start by both drivers oswald losing a little traction bernstein moves ahead he holds on at the finish line in a tremendous drag race the crew all the work between rounds pays off and look at the times 5.81 seconds at over 256 miles an hour as we watch again a great start for both drivers the little wisp of smoke out of mark oswald's car indicates losing traction ever so slightly kenny bernstein moving ahead in the middle of the track takes every advantage and marks his second upset win coming out of his famed red funny car kenny bernstein an upset over marcos while bernstein goes into the final of the big bud shootout and he goes in as the fastest driver in the history of funny car racing at over 256 miles an hour the quickest elapsed time 581. all right that's it huh how about them numbers i can't even believe it what a race it was he was right there i know because i shut off and he went right by me but it just hauled it made it from one end to the other picked the front end up it tingled and then it just went boom and i come down and it was just hauling the ride of your life the fastest ever i guess that's beautiful oh congratulations and you had a lot of work to do in the pit area and you got it all done properly up here of course you know we exploded the pulley like we talked it ripped the mag off but armstrong cougar schuman the group the budweiser king group they put it together bingo here we are kenny bernstein in the finals for that 25 000 big bud shootout award will race one of these drivers al sagrini in the near lane or john force in the far lane force from fullerton california a very active racer on the national event circuit has yet to win a major championship a very intense racer force had a chance to talk with steve evans earlier certainly there's a big financial reward but for you the reward would be winning one of these big races there's no doubt for for uh budweiser 25 000 is a drop in the bucket to me to me it's it's life or death no doubt about it a win of this size would go a long way to providing a big boost for the career of john force from fullerton california but the man that's trying to stop it is in the near lane of this quarter-mile racetrack and that is al sagrini from easton massachusetts east meets west here in the big bud shootout at indianapolis raceway park john for sanal sagrini and a red light start by john force he left the starting line too soon before the green light came on al sagrini elects to save his parts and pieces shuts off and just coasts through at only 116 miles an hour but in making that choice he loses the lane choice in the finals to kenny bernstein 25 000 at stake in the big bud shootout in the far lane a pair of upset winners a pair of underdogs made it to the finals some 5 000 horsepower on tap between these two cars as they prepare for their burnout as these two drivers got ready for this final confrontation steve evans had an opportunity to visit their pit areas and talk with both of them you could beat yourself going into this final that's always possible in any drag race well i think so the track uh conditions are not uh what they were earlier today we were on the last run which was a a good run it was on the verge then uh they alarm showed my crew chief figuels that it was one of those runs that could have gone either way it could have been good it could have been bad so we're going to be real careful in the final not to beat ourselves kenny bernstein has everyone shaking their heads and this heat and humidity to run 256. i'd say that's that's unbelievable that's you know i'm happy for kenny it's that's a really good pass uh you know i hope someday we can run that quick that that's really phenomenal i i just keep shaking my head 250. i ran 250 on uh saturday here and i thought that was flying 256 it's my unbelievable so what are your guys going to do to combat that kind of performance well you know i felt as though the car left really strong in low gear it would have run you know maybe a mid 80 or high 80. so i want to want to go out there and kind of leave it alone and hopefully go out the track really good and we'll give him a good drag race for 25 dollars you'd sacrifice a few pieces well yeah we have to do we have to do i mean like you said when you're down here there's no coming back it's all over this is the final we both worked very hard to get here kenny did and the crew did and they'll do a good job we'll put it together and let it all hang out in this last run both kenny bernstein and al sagrini just made this big bud shootout eight-car field at the recent brainerd minnesota north star nationals bernstein qualified number seven al sagrini just made it qualified number eight in round number one sagrini the upset winner over don prudhomme he took the measure of john force in round two but for kenny bernstein what a record-setting day he defeated the number one qualifier mark oswald in the semifinals in round number one it was the defending champion frank hawley now it's the finals 25 000 at stake and up in smoke goes al sagrini it's kenny bernstein the winner of the big bud shootout a tremendous display of driving ability his crew headed by dale armstrong elated and awesome horsepower 252 miles an hour 5.90 seconds let's see how he did it as the green light comes on both cars leave the starting line bernstein very smoothly but watch al sagrini the smoke starts and then it gets worse indicating a loss of traction and at that point the race is lost and who knows it the crew jumping for joy kenny bernstein's crew with dale armstrong the crew chief saying we win a few weeks ago kenny bernstein was not even qualified for the shootout now he is on the receiving end of a 25 000 check he did it in record-busting fashion congratulations oh thank you steve what a what a turnaround like you said from a month ago and i said it before and i know it's getting old but dale armstrong mike google rick schuman jeff scarp and the budweiser crew they just did it and they'll really put it together let's talk a bit about racing philosophy you softened up the motor a little bit didn't overpower the racetrack you had a feeling sagrini would do just that you called it we were hoping that was armstrong's plan of attack and he's in charge of making those things happen with the race car we talk about it and we did we solved it and it did the die cylinder when it left it went that dial and i was a little afraid of it it did it on the burnout but it picked it up and went on and it's just history your happiest moment in drag racing top of the list i can't think of it it's been a long time coming i'll tell you but brainerd was a good week i mean everything went right there but here we are again number one qualifier and doing this deal i'm yeah i'm happy real happy your honor roll kenny bernstein congratulations again steve appreciate it our congratulations to kenny bernstein and all the competitors in the big bud shootout brought to you by budweiser the king of beers and proud sponsor of the us olympic team for all you do this bud's for you and a presentation of diamond p sports diamond b sports presents championship drag racing from the national hot rod association the big bud shootout featuring a showdown between eight of the finest fiberglass bodied bunny cars driven by eight of the best drivers in the world they thread the needle through the quarter mile at speeds topping 260 miles an hour with elapsed times of less than six seconds welcome to indianapolis raceway park in indianapolis indiana the largest drag racing facility in the world for the richest drag race in the world the third annual big bud shootout it was at the first shootout that frank hawley soon to become world champion and driver of the famed chi-town hustler defeated one of the true legends of this sport when in the far lane he outran don brudeau for victory last year saw kenny bernstein a last-minute qualifier totally dominate the event finally subduing al sagrini for the championship and securing the 25 000 first prize again this year the eight fastest funny cars in the world determined through season-long qualifying will meet to contest for the lion's share of the over forty thousand dollar purse hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland and this is the chi-town hustler sporting a brand new paint job you know this is a fiberglass replica of a dodge daytona body and to the racer the beauty goes more than skin deep steve evans can tell us about it dave you take the funny car out of its plastic wrapper as we have done with billy myers machine and you discover an animal of a race car let's take a tour from front to back the first thing you'll discover is the chrome weight bar now that is filled with lead shot to help keep the front end down under varying track conditions also mounted forward for ballast is the fuel tank it holds 14 gallons about 11 of which are used on each run appropriately enough on either side of the fuel tank are the mandatory onboard fire extinguishers now there really is no front suspension on billy's car it's solid on some you'll find a rocker arm style independent front suspension here we have a pair of heavy duty oil filters and then we move to the meat of the matter a fuel injected supercharged aluminum hemi racing engine no one's really sure how much horsepower they put out because there's not a dyno in the world capable of measuring it let's call it three thousand they do the exhaust headers really do more than just exhaust they also furnish some necessary downforce for traction moving back to the cockpit area it's pretty simple as far as race cars go billy has a handbrake attached to that is the fuel shutoff lever this lever activates the fire bottles if necessary this is a shifter he only moves it once low to high about half track this is the reverser used only when he backs up after the burnout and this particular lever and this one are fuel mixture controls he can richen or lean the motor from the cockpit not much upholstery because with a five layer fire suit you're pretty well wearing the necessary padding the tires are limited to 17 inches across 114 inches around this particular little aluminum tank here is really just a breather tank it collects any oil being blown out of the motor and keeps it off the racetrack the wheelie bars here are also mandatory without them cars have been known to flip over backwards i had a chance to talk to some of the racers involved in today's big bud shootout i asked them if there was a car that they particularly feared here's what they said i'd have to go with mark oswald uh it's momentum right now uh the the car the last month has just been flying and uh in fact uh he beat us uh we run our our second quickest run ever a few weeks ago and and he he just flat out run us on that uh in that race so i'd have to go with mark oswald but in this big bud shootout uh everyone's tough well right now i would have to say it you know it's mark oswald than the candies and used car they've been running uh extremely well in the last 60 days they've picked the pace up and passed all of us so i would have to say except except for ourself you know which we would always say they would be the main one well i i don't know i think there's one car right now that could be a little ahead the candy's in a huge car maybe a taste but not much we're going to chase him down i hope but otherwise it's a toss-up this is mark oswald the driver they're all talking about the driver of the dreaded candies in hugh's car from the buyers of louisiana mark you seem to be enjoying a bit of an intimidation factor here yeah right now we are but when the car runs that good it's also right on the borderline of going down the racetrack you know and it's real hard to keep it that way we got guys like frank hawley yesterday who showed real consistency and you know the car really ran good you know so it's not as much an advantage as you might think mark oswald the strong favorite and number one qualifier going into the first round of the big bud shootout understand that these drivers have been going through a qualifying procedure throughout the entire year based upon their qualifying position at nhra national events they earned the points that gave them the right to compete in this 44 000 big bud shootout in nhra style racing the number one qualifier races number five number two races number six number three races number seven and here our first pair of cars we find tim groves who ended up the number four qualifier with 1210 points racing the number eight qualifier that is tom mcewen he qualified number eight just barely making it into the field with a thousand and seventy points to give you an idea of how close the field is only 270 points separated tom mcewen from mark oswald the number one qualifier and there's the reason why the qualifying was so close look at in the this just barely pulling ahead of tim gross at the finish his elapsed time 5.89 seconds his speed at the finish line 254 miles an hour side by side both cars launch off the starting line as if they are won from a standing start they cover 1320 feet down this racing surface tom mcewen and tim gross each struggling to get ahead of the other as the broad yellow stripe in the center indicates the finish line and it is tom mcewen the winner from fountain valley california tom mcewen advancing into the semi-finals of the big bud shootout the big bud showdown is being brought to you by budweiser for all you do this bud's for you more first round shootout action in just a moment back in indianapolis raceway park in the first round racing in the big bud shootout the dramatic burnout by billy meyer in the near lane with his competitor frank hawley right behind him and coming out of the cloud of smoke two years ago it was frank hawley winning the inaugural big bud shootout he is currently the reigning world champion in this year qualified number three his competitor from waco texas is billy meyer and billy qualified number seven billy you've got an opponent first round in the big bud shootout that's famous for his consistency frank holly yeah they've been real consistent all year over the last three years have been quite consistent our i guess our main thing here is that the consistency that they have had is about a tenth off of the pace we've been able to perform at this year so hopefully it stays that way billy myers level of performance has been improving at practically every event this season for frank hawley his qualifying this year has been exceptionally good thus his number three spot here in the big bud shootout but the level of consistency has fallen off somewhat in nhra national event competition but that doesn't appear to be the case in this race frank hawley stretching his lead over billy meyer by two car links at the finish line 5.81 seconds his elapsed time his speed a fine 250 miles an hour frank hawley the first ever winner of the big bud shootout advancing into the semifinals this is the man all of drag racing was talking about last year in the course of three short weeks kenny bernstein won three major nhra national event titles including the big bud shootout and in the process garnered over one hundred thousand dollars in cage a never before accomplished feat in the sport of championship drag racing he had his problems qualifying for last year's big bud shootout that's not the case this year kenny bernstein as the defending champion comes in in a very strong number two position he is racing against dale paulding haldi qualified in the number seven spot but bear in mind all eight cars are very closely bunched in this field let's go down to steve with frank hawley frank holly who tasted victory in the inaugural big bud shootout two years ago that's one down well we were concerned about billion we always just try and take it one round at a time uh i think the car run pretty well and uh just like a couple years ago i don't even know who run the next round is the track good enough where you can keep the pedal down all the way the full quarterback that run we did but we had softened it up uh when we had qualified uh the track was a little loose i had to lift a bit uh but it did run very well that time we softened it up and maybe we softened it a little too much but 581 maybe that's a little too much we'll find out we'll watch the rest of the competition okay frank going into the semifinals is shy time hustler a very personable frank holly waiting for his crew to come take him back to the fifth to prepare for the semifinals kenny bernstein in the near lane by virtue of his qualifying position has the lane choice and he selects the lane nearest the camera bernstein based in dallas texas one of those famed texas thunder nitro burning funny cars his competition comes from granada hills california his name is dale paul day still if you would tell me about the racetrack it is famous for its elapsed times uh is it in that kind of condition for the big bad shootout i believe it will be there's a bit of rain coming and going right now so that's going to kind of mess up everybody's tune up a little bit and we've been doing a little bit of testing here and we've had our share of troubles on the track and i think it's uh it's going to be a hit and miss deal right off the bat for us both drivers concentrating on the start and kenny bernstein with a very slight advantage but at the middle of the course it appears fully coming on and the finish line it is bernstein by just about a carly 5.95 second elapsed time his speed 247 miles an hour picking him up at the middle of the race court you see kenny bernstein just slowly start to pull ahead dale baldi in the bar lane making it a very close race you see just how close only two hundredths of a second separating the two kenny bernstein's win streak continues in this big bud shootout three win lights last year in victory and one down now well that's the toughest one steve the first round and dale pulled he's a good competitor i was plenty worried like two one hundred she won it is that right i thought it was going to be close we spun the tires quite a bit she was pretty loose it's tougher this year i think than it was last year yeah i think so their cars are all good they have have been but they're all running better this year and they're all closer together so it makes it tougher okay kenny bernstein he goes into the semis the defending champion's still in competition maybe two years in a row bernstein paying recognition to the man he just defeated here's the man they're all talking about this year this is the number one qualifier he is the man that everyone says is the car to beat mark oswald driving for candies and hughes against the three-time world champion raymond beatle has not had the most successful season of his career while on the other hand mark oswalt has been ultimately successful both in qualifying as is evidenced by his number one spot and in actual side-by-side competition driving for the team of candies and hughes mark oswald your favorite and number one qualifier for raymond beatle the number five qualifier but obvious underdog you have to wonder what his strategy is our car i think can run equally as well they've run quicker than we have the best our cars ever runs have been low 70 71 or 72 but uh we think the car is capable of running in the 60s and one thing about you know where you stand so you got to go for it first round so you're willing to burn the motor if you have to get by yeah well hopefully we won't have to burn it but i mean if that's what it takes that's what we'll do raymond beatle may be outclassed on paper but never conceding an inch to the number one qualifier mark oswalt don't forget there's two important considerations in every race you're watching the first and most important is winning the race the secondary consideration is the elapsed time because the racer with the lower elapsed time of the pair in the next round has the lane choice gets to run in the preferred lane that he selects so keep that in mind in every race the elapsed time very important to these racers mark oswald in the near lane in the far lane raymond beadle [Music] and what an upset the man they feared most down to defeat the blue max crew congratulating each other look at the elapsed time 5.75 seconds beatles slowing the blue max car to a stop as the shroud line flailing in the air we watch again as beetle and oswald move almost together off the starting line but then things go sour for mark oswald the tires losing traction the smoke you see that means they're spinning but for raymond beetle he just pulls ahead to the finish line and wins the race well for mark oswald who as you heard earlier many of the drivers had picked to go all the way here is out in this first round of competition as raymond beatles steps up with a shocking 5.75 elapsed time mark oswald trying to remove that carbon fiber helmet and unfortunately we won't see him smile too much no one expected that from raymond well he ran good and i think we could have run good the car just moved to the center line instantly off the starting line he had to fight it back and it was just all over the racetrack well good job mark thanks anyone see what a shock for mark oswald and even steve evans at a loss for words as the racers head back to the pits to get ready for the semifinals raymond beedle against frank holly kenny bernstein against tom mckeown at indianapolis raceway park the big bud shootout the semifinal action of the big bud shootout at indianapolis raceway park it was two years ago that frank hawley won the top prize of the shootout this year he is now in the semifinals but is in an underdog role as he has to race the man that has established the lowest elapsed time in competition raymond beedle driving the blue max that stunning 5.75 second elapsed time in the first round as he upset the favorite mark oswald gives beatle the control he has the lane choice in this race against holly and that can be all important the lanes of this quarter-mile racetrack can actually change throughout the day thus the lane choice for the driver can be one of the most important considerations that he has to face the other is mechanical problems for frank hawley he had very little between rounds but for raymond beadle a different story raymond the blue max was trailing some oil on the return road headed back to the pit area everything okay yeah everything's fine everyone thought that maybe we'd heard a rod or something what happened the chute didn't come out uh down there in the cart the track's a little rough on the other end the car got to bouncing real bad we had one of the older or old oil pans on it didn't have a patch so we just kind of have a split here on the scene but other than that everything's fine so it ran 575 and didn't hurt a thing no it didn't hurt anything back we think we'd come back and run that good maybe a little bit better well you're going to have to because frank hawley was the second quickest car in that first round yeah well when we went into this thing we knew we didn't have lane choice first round we were running the the quickest car of the whole deal and he and we're the quickest car um of the event because he'd run a 69 the best we'd have to run it was the 92. we knew the car was run pretty well yesterday it broke a rock arm however we did break another rocker arm on that 75 run so we know we got a little bit left all the work is over and it is now up to both drivers raymond beedle in the blue max frank hawley in the chi-town hustler the concentration level extremely high at this point these drivers thinking about one thing only getting a good start getting the car off the starting line and down that race track as quick as possible raymond made a losing traction right off the start for frank holly another great run he crosses the finish line and look at the elapsed time 5.81 seconds the consistency that you strive for is there the happy crew reflecting the joy of the chi-town hustler folks as they're in the finals look over in the far lane the blue car raymond beetle loses traction instantly off the starting line already the crew for the chi town hustler is reacting as frank hawley heads to the finish line for the second time in three years frank hawley goes into the final round of the big bud shootout 581. well that's our game plan in it 82-81 i think that can do it uh might be an interesting story here if kenny bernstein wins this round and you'll have your two previous winners in the final round you have to drive with a soft touch there frank or hammer down no i mean we've been softening the car up a little bit like i guess you should rather than rely on the driver we just floored it it rattled somewhat uh shifted the car sail across the finish line let's go back to the starting line and see if indeed kenny bernstein will be your final round opponent steve back at the line it's tom mcewen that will be trying to prevent kenny bernstein from becoming the first ever two-time big bud shootout champion but mcewen's got to be thinking about one thing he has the lane choice he took the far lane but he watched raymond beadle the quickest car in competition today go up and smoke right in front of him bernstein on the other hand watched frank hawley lay down a picture-perfect 5.81 second elapsed time bob mcewen in the far lane the defending champion kenny bernstein in the near lane the winner to face frank holly a great [Music] [Applause] [Music] shootout finals against frank hawley 5.84 seconds the lane choice in the final will be frank hawley's but this race going to tom mcgowan this is an exact opposite of the race you just saw between frank hawley and raymond beatle bob mcewen not bothered at all about loss of traction his main concern was getting to the finish line ahead of the defending champion kenny bernstein for the long time veteran mcewen a big win dave another round of the big bud shootout where neither driver was sure if he'd won or lost dominic you won you're in the final thank you you know what the time was 584 584 not bad i met alone you're looking sharp on the starting line oh man yeah yeah i looked pretty good i thought that time well you know it's funny what money will do for guys nice carrot out there yes sir thank you okay tom mcewen and frank college the final set for the big bud shootout it is mcewen against holly with frank hawley having lane choice the final of the big bud shootout 25 000 riding on this single race between two cars in the near lane it is frank hawley he won this race two years ago tom mcewen in the far lane the man that has been around the sport for over two decades running better this year than ever before working his way into the finals from the number eight qualifying position just barely making the program in fact he was tied with ed the ace mcculloch for the number eight spot but by virtue of earning his points earlier it was mcewen into the eight car field rather than the colors all the work is completed all the effort of the crew finished now it rides solely on the [Music] [Applause] your big bud champion and 260 miles an hour mr consistency frank hawley lost it all right here the car losing traction going up in smoke he gives the win automatically to tom mccurd but on this run mcewen thunders across that finish line at 260 miles an hour to become the big bud champion and how important is a win like this just look at the disappointment on the face of frank hawley the runner-up let's go to steve with tom mcewen you could did a marvelous job at 260 mile an hour speeds they are rarely seen yeah my crew is just great i don't say about them my help is good my sponsors are great you know i'm driving pretty good for an old man this year and uh you know i what can i say i'm real happy and the coors people i'll tell you i want to thank budweiser for putting this race on and taking a chance that another beer company could rain on their parade they're a class bunch my hat's off to them and you know you budweiser people buy the beer and hats off to you and our congratulations to you tom mcewen the big bud shootout champion the big bud shootout was brought to you by budweiser the king of beers reach for that distinctively clean crisp taste that says budweiser for all you do this bud's for you the big bud shootout featuring a showdown between eight of the finest fiberglass bodied funny cars driven by eight of the best drivers in the world they thread the needles through the quarter mile in less than six seconds drag racing from the nhra the long smoky burnout of the nitro methane-fueled funny car the distinguishing mark of this ever popular category of nhra drag racing [Music] today the quickest of this exotic breed meet for a 260 mile an hour confrontation at indianapolis raceway park [Music] at the heart of all that action is this 2500 horsepower racing engine which if you cover it with a fiberglass plastic body you end up with today's modern funny car hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland and welcome to the fourth annual big bud shootout being contested at indianapolis raceway park the premier drag racing facility anywhere in the united states we have today the eight fastest funny cars in the world racing for a thirty thousand dollar top prize those eight cars are down on the starting line all staged up and ready to go working with me today is steve evans steve david like hungry open-mouthed animals these funny cars are ready for action in drag racing parlance the engines are set on kill crews are ready to replace entire power plants between rounds if that's what it takes as far as favorites are concerned well there's really only two kenny bernstein who's virtually assured of winning this year's world championship he also holds both the speed and elapsed time world records then there's tom the mongoose mcewen who won the shootout a year ago and has been the quickest car in time trials this weekend what we have here indeed is a shootout of the best steve the eighth quickest bunny cars based on qualifying position will meet in the first round the number four qualifier rick johnson racing tim gross who qualified in the number eight position the number three qualifier is dale paulde racing the defending champion number seven tom mcewen the number two qualifier ed the ace mccullough against the number six qualifier little john lombardo driving the blue max the number one qualifier kenny bernstein against the number five qualifier john force the big bud shootout is underway the eight quickest funny cars in the world and our first pair finds the number four qualifier rick johnson in the near lane against tim gross in the far lane these racers have been competing all season long through a series of nine events based upon their qualifying position at that race to earn points for the right to race in the big bud shootout as our first pair of cars complete those long smoky burnouts to heat the tires tim gross comes to us from saugus california he qualified in the number eight position just making it into the field he's racing one of the quickest drivers in the world rick johnson driving for roland leong has an elapsed time of 5.58 seconds to his credit the big bud shootout is a lot like the nfl pro bowl here you find the eight best funny car racers in the world competing in a special event with a thirty thousand dollar top prize tim gross following the directions of his crew pulling into the tracks that he left when he did his burnout trying to find the best traction in the near lane is rick johnson patiently waiting he inches forward into those staging beams the electronic light beams and it's a green light start for both cars a close range rick johnson pulls ahead in the middle of the course and at the finish line it is rick johnson 5.84 seconds his speed over 253 miles an hour let's go back and look at the start once again the advantage off the starting line being ever so slight appears to go to rick johnson but tim gross is right beside him as they head through the first few hundred feet of this racecourse at the middle of the track you see that advantage now beginning to be stretched out into almost a car length lead for johnson in the near lane as he approached the timing trap and the finish line johnson by a half a car length he actually ran slower but the advantage of the start was his you can have all the horsepower in the world but without a driver like rick johnson who can leave that starting line ahead of the other driver you don't win drag races you ran 100 slower and beat tim gross thank you steve uh that's the kind of thing i need in this camp to keep the morale up that's the kind of thing rolling leon demands of his drivers i'm telling you you don't hang around live you can't get good lights here you're going to have to probably run better than 580s if you're going to win this event yeah we had to clutch set up a little bit soft just trying to get around this first round deal there's a lot of power left in it roland's doing a good job with it he'll bring it around nice drive thanks steve a big win for rick johnson the big bud shootout is being brought to you by budweiser beachwood aged for that distinctively clean crisp taste that makes budweiser the king of beers for all you do this bud's for you we'll be back with more big bud shootout from indianapolis getting their mount ready for the second round of competition rick johnson has advanced into the semifinals and this between round action is a complete check of all the components on that 2500 horsepower engine back at the starting line our next pair is fired and ready to go dale baldy in the near lane will be racing tom mcewen the defending champion of this big bud shootout in time trials mcewen recorded an outstanding 5.67 seconds elapsed time the time it took him to travel a quarter of a mile that's only 1320 feet in a straight line leaving the starting line from a standing start for dale baldy his number three qualifying position indicating a season-long standard of high performance baldi hailing from granada hills california earlier we asked his competition todd mcewen if he could repeat as the big bud champ how would he spend 30 grand oh my horses have a place for it race horses oh yes sir they have a way of making a rich man a poor man yeah they're they're even worse than this for a money sport the horse racing is even more expensive than this but if the horse finally breaks down you can eat it and you can't you can't do that with these scars the two very expensive occupations and avocations for tom the mongoose mcgowan the defending champion in this big bud shootout it will be mcewen in the far lane dale baldy in the near lane baldi driving a buick summerset regal for tom mcewen he's got the corvette fiberglass body draped over that 2500 horsepower and both cars losing traction the human recovers first and heads to the finish line it certainly wasn't picture perfect but it was a big win for tom mcewen 6.49 seconds his speed 244 miles an hour and you can see what the loss of traction means to the performance this is something every driver dreads when you leave the starting line the front wheels come up and then the back wheels lose traction and the tires start smoking when they smoke like that they're burning rubber they're not going anywhere they're just spinning madly for mcu and he back pedals gets back in it the car recovers traction and goes on to win and advance into the semi-finals tom mcewen climbing out of his car in the shutdown area he'll take a win any way he can get it the long smoky burnout to heat the tires to provide the traction for ed the ace mcculloch as his competition gets ready to approach the burnout area little john lombardo driving the blue max owned by raymond beatle of dallas texas rolls forward into a puddle of water just plain old h2o to let the tires break loose initially and then they start to smoke bombardo car owner raymond beedle and the entire crew hoping that the burnout will be sufficient to get the traction they need they saw the car just in front of them go up in smoke and they need every advantage they can get to beat this driver and mcculloch driving for car owner larry miner little john lombardo moved into the blue max earlier this year when owner raymond beatle decided to devote more time to his business and less to the driving chores lombardo has had an up and down season thus far but he earned enough points to get into this big bud shootout for the number two qualifier ed mcculloch it's been a great year thus far that number two qualifying position gives him lane choice over lombardo in the first round of competitions a quicker qualifier gets the lane choice in every round thereafter it is the man with the quickest elapsed time in the preceding round so in addition to winning the race every driver is trying to establish a quick elapsed time hopefully to gain in lane choice in the next round of competition alberto is ready and it's a green light [Music] and the crew very happy with that run 5.82 seconds his speed 254 miles an hour some problems right off the starting line for lombardo he had to back out of it and a disappointing day for raymond beatle in the blue max crew here is john force he is not in an enviable position in spite of a 5.70 second elapsed time in time trials he has to run the number one qualifier kenny bernstein in the traditional nhra single elimination tournament the number one qualifier runs number five as we saw number two runs number six and so on throughout the eight car field let's go to steve with ed mccullough ace were you concerned after watching mcewen and pulley smoke the tires in front of you well yeah steve but you know the thing of it is i know that everybody's coming into this and they're going to be hopped up uh we went with our game plan we didn't uh really hop it up it didn't run any better but uh 82 was good enough to get my first round so we'll see what happens now see your second round okay thanks steve ed mccullough has been in the winner's circle before and he wants to win the 30 thousand dollar first prize this man wants to be the first repeat winner he won this event two years ago and has certainly been the dominant force in funny car racing this year bernstein qualified to earn points at this race four number one positions three number two spots his competition john force earlier we asked john after all his years of racing is he still having fun there's no doubt yeah you know the excitement you know like yesterday when we ran that 70 and we got out the end and i was giving you big old hugs down there i know that's a little corny but you've been watching me do this for a lot of years and that was a great feeling and of course but of course before the ink dried uh mcewen ran that 67 and took all the thunder away but it was fun while it lasted i've always said about john forest what you see is what you get yeah well it's maybe don't look so good sometimes but we're doing the best we can steve john's 5.70 second elapsed time in time trials proves that he can run with the best of them and seriously we at diamond b sports wonder when it will be that john force will win his first nhra national event it's bound to happen and john force is giving bernstein all he could handle a great start for force but bernstein pulls it out right at the finish line bernstein's crew dale armstrong the crew chief and the rest of the gang just thrilled to death look at the elapsed time 5.69 seconds and the fastest speed in eliminations at 260 miles an hour the dominant force in funny car racing as we said has been kenny bernstein and this is why john force out drove him at the starting line he left before bernstein still got the green light but look at the power of bernstein from the last half of the quarter mile as they thunder towards that finish line bernstein pulls ahead and wins it well kenny bernstein struggled a little bit in time trials for the big bud shootout but struggle no longer kenny 569 260 miles an hour oh super it's maybe come back around dale and the guys have been working awful hard it's been tough as you said steve hasn't been good for the budweiser king the last couple of days but today started nice uh first half of the track a good race with john for us yeah i think i was a little late i think he left on me a taste uh you know sometimes those things happen he's a good leader and uh we chased him down that's what had happened but uh finally got through it down there into the semifinals goes kenny bernstein kenny bernstein won this event two years ago he stands the chance of being the first two-time winner ever our pairings for the semifinals ed mcculloch and rick johnson with mcculloch having the lane choice kenny bernstein with the lane choice over the defending champion palm the mongoose mcewen mcewen has his own ideas about repeating as the big bud champion as they get ready for the semi-final round of action we'll be coming back for the big bud shootout raceway park i'm dave mcclelland along with steve evans and a huge crowd on hand for this fourth annual running of the big bud shootout the finest funny cars in the world doing battle for a 30 000 top prize and the ace mccullough driving for car owner larry miner against rick johnson who's driving for his car in the first round rick johnson defeated tim gross while ed mccullough blasted past john lomardo johnson knows it will take a tremendous effort to match up against mcculloch when we talk about commitment earlier you heard tom mcewen discussing his race horses and his racing and both of them are very expensive it takes a dedication of time effort and most particularly money to campaign one of these funny cars back in the pit area it looks like an 18-wheeler parking lot these are the specialized racing rigs that support these funny cars nowhere is the effort more evident than in the team of larry miner and ed mccullough well you know the larry miner ed mccullough team came to play hardball when you look at this forest of pistons and rods all ready for duty if they're needed certainly the piston is the most vulnerable part of these nitro burning engines and have to be replaced often now there's one two three four there's about seven runs where the pistons here if all eight had to be replaced so they are definitely ready with an arsenal of parts steve not only are they ready but every team in competition in this big bud shootout has the same type of backup we estimate that there's over a quarter of a million dollars in parts and pieces that minimum alone just to support one of these funny cars while the car owners will tell you they spend between three quarters of a million and a million dollars a year campaigning one of these cars around the country they're gathered here today though for the shootout of the best the big bud shootout we're down to four cars remaining this is the semi-final round rick johnson in the far lane ed mccullough in the airline the responsibility now falls on the driver available and goes into the finals of the big bud shootout a close race 5.85 seconds at 254 miles an hour for mcculloch as we watch again you see both cars with a bit of an advantage appearing to go to mcculloch leaves the starting line just a few feet off the line rick johnson begins to lose traction he back pedals in other words he lifts his foot off the throttle trying to regain traction he does it masterfully but in spite of the brilliant driving job johnson runs out of time mcculloch by a fender link wins it ed mccullough take me from the starting line through that race what happened the whole thing left okay went out there spun the tire a little bit not real bad but it wasn't uh it wasn't real strong we just sort of lumbered down through there you know did you see him smoke the tires and disappear no i never saw him that's the kind of races you like or you never said you got that one into the finals well we'll see what bernstein runs here they're running awful good but uh i'm glad we got a shot at him okay let's go back to the starting line and indeed find out who ed ace mccullough will race in the final round of the big bud shootout steve it may be a matter of point of view but i wouldn't call 254 miles an hour lumbering here's the man everyone's trying to beat kenny bernstein earlier we talked about the financial investment it takes to run a funny car one of the largest portions of the budget goes to people the crew that works on each car a funny car pit area between rounds functions much like an operating room in a hospital it takes as many as six people to get kenny bernstein's car apart and back together again and each of them is a specialist one individual work on the bottom into the engine checking the bearings another will work on uh adjusting the valves replacing the cylinder heads yet another will remove all eight pistons take them in the trailer check for any tight rings anything that may be wrong there all in all they can do this in a matter of minutes it would take the average garage days sometimes even weeks steve kenny bernstein will be in the far lane he has the lane choice tom mcewen the defending champion is in the near lane both drivers trying to find exactly the right spot with the assistance of their crews and crew chiefs as they approach that starting line they want the best racing service possible both drivers with intense concentration on the christmas tree trying to get the perfect start it's a great lead for both drivers close to the center line and bernstein by a couple of car lengths dale armstrong a great driver in his own right extremely happy another 5.69 second elapsed time his speed 256 miles an hour as bernstein will be matched against ed mcculloch in the big bud shootout final that confrontation coming up next final of the big bud shootout it comes down to these two men kenny bernstein and ed mcculloch the two best funny car drivers in the world throughout the entire season now meeting for the championship you know kenny's been tough all year i mean kenny and dale and their crew i mean you know we just got to hand it to them i mean the guys are awesome you know and they run real well they're a very high professional team and they've got all the technology and and the guys use it to their advantage and they're really tough they're tough all the time they'll get them we'll give them heck well ace told me before we started this somebody shoot out things today that his car with it's a new race car as you know and it's very difficult he's having trouble hooking it up he has a tendency to smoke the tires so i'm sure that he's thinking about a lot and he also probably as you know has to put a little bit in it to catch up so hopefully we can just repeat and everything will work fine for us i hope that takes place bernstein by virtue of the 5.69 second elapsed time as lane joyce and he took the far lane from our camera position the huge crowd this is what they came to see the two best drivers in the world coming together in the final of the big bud shootout bernstein his worst qualifying position throughout all of this season was in the number 10 spot he had four number one qualifying spots three number two while bernstein was at the top of the ladder mcculloch reached the big bud shootout based upon his consistent performance the best he did with two number two qualifying spots at the gator nationals in the southern nationals but throughout the entire season he was consistent in his qualifying and that led to this big bud shootout two wins and now he is in the final racing for the 30 000 top prize against kenny bernstein both cars set a green light and mcculloch's car does not hook up [Music] [Applause] 5.70 second elapsed time for bernstein as we go back and look again we heard kenny talk earlier about mcculloch's new car he said it has problems hooking up watch you see the smoke off the tires he is losing traction and that lost him his chance for victory has bernstein at that point pulled ahead by nearly two car lengths and held it all the way to the finish line at the end of this quarter-mile racing service there is a 30 000 win for kenny bernstein well there have been four big bud shootouts and kenny bernstein you've won two of them congratulations well thank you steve very much it's a great feeling it's as good as the first time and i didn't know if it could be but it is i want to thank budweiser motorcraft and ford and kangaroo shoes and all our fans and friends that's the main thing talk about consistency two five sixty nines and a 570 to finish it off well that's good we were hoping it would hold we were a little concerned but dale said let's leave it if it'll just do that again we'll be fine hats off to dale and the crew again for a super job outstanding congratulations again to kenny bernstein defeating ed mccullough to become the first two-time big bud shootout champion our congratulations to all the competitors in the big bud shootout and most particularly this man ed mcculloch for steve evans this is dave mcclellan saying so long from indianapolis raceway park the big bud shootout has been brought to you by budweiser beechwood aged for that clean crisp taste this bud's for you [Music] the big bad shootout has been a presentation of diamond b [Music] sports diamond p sports presents championship drag racing from the national hot rod association the big bud shootout featuring a showdown between eight of the finest fiberglass bodied bunny cars driven by eight of the best drivers in the world they thread the needle through the quarter mile at speeds topping 270 miles an hour with elapsed times of less than six seconds drag racing from the nhra the nitro burning bunny car motorsports most awesome display of horsepower hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland and this huge crowd has come to indianapolis raceway park for the fifth annual running of the big buds shootout the beauty of today's modern funny car is more than skin deep underneath the fiberglass shell beats the heart of an unpredictable machine its straight line performance belies the complexity of its operation there's much more involved than one might suspect right steve evans david no question about it the funny cars are lean mean beautiful machines going down that quarter mile drag strip but what you can't see is what the driver is going through inside the cockpit with the body off of tom mckeown's car hopefully we can illustrate a little of that for you now with the body up is the crew starting the car tom thomas holding up the brake to keep it from lurching forward as the engine starts to run on that gasoline prime he will open this fuel shutoff valve allowing the nitrile methane to flow to the engine now once the body is latched down he'll slowly release the brake and start just kind of idling forward this is a centrifugal collection kind of move on its own to the water area where he's about to do the burnout at that point he'll grab the ship lever and he'll pull the transmission into high gear so he does not over rev the engine on the burnout and with very precise travel control he'll do the burnout grab the brake handle bring the car to a stop without bouncing it then he'll reach over take this lever and lean out the engine so as he's backing up it will build heat he wants about 140 degree of temperature when he goes to the starting line now he'll also come back here put the transmission back into low gear so he doesn't forget to do that one of you guys have this is a reverse lever it's a separate little transmission now he's backing up when he gets back he'll put this into a forward gear do a few of those dry hops as he pre-stages now he'll take this lever and put it back into the rich position so that the car has plenty of fuel to leave the starting line now he's holding the brake tight when the light goes green he stops on the pedal and starts to steer the car he may have to grab the brake a little bit if it's smoking the tire to slow the wheel speed a few hundred feet out he'll push this button that will lean out the engine degree plenty of power in the mid range but before he gets to the finish line he's got to release this button so it does not burn up in the light as he crosses the finish line he's going to reach up here on the body pull the parachute shut off the fuel and start breaking the car now if he's got a problem he's on fire he'll pull this lever operating the fire bottle on the engine and he'll push this lever to operate the fire bubble that is inside the car so all in all these guys are busy men in just five seconds all this happens the pairings today are the result of a season-long points competition and billy meyer the number four qualifier raises tim gross who qualified number eight ed mcculloch ended in the number seven spot to go against the number three qualifier mark oswalt john force qualified number two he'll be racing against tom mcewen who won this race in 1984 and the defending champion and number one qualifier kenny bernstein goes against johnny west i'm sure all you drag racing fans think this is kenny bernstein but you're wrong this is billy meyer from waco texas and the reason his car today looks like kenny bernstein is the result of this explosion in time trials for the big bud shootout the car literally destroying itself pieces of the fiberglass body flying all over the racetrack as the engine exploded when meyer crossed the finish line philly did a tremendous job in keeping this car under control as he gradually brought it to a safe stop fortunately meyer uninjured in the explosion billy all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't have put that body together again that you blew off you're getting ready for the big bud shootout no there wasn't there wasn't enough super glue in the world i don't think uh it definitely you know did major damage and stuff and if we had gotten a different car we would have had to requalify however with the rules so just by keeping the same car and changing bodies you know we stayed qualified after that run that's with you know kenny bernstein's help that's what we elected to do meyer with the same car but a different body now faces tim gross in his corvette bodied car in this the first round of the big bud shootout thirty thousand dollars cash up for grabs to the winner of this very special eight-car field it is meyer in the near lane gross in the farley both cars are now staged and ready and it is meyer off the starting line first fire continues to extend his lead a bit as well get the parts of the engine and body flying off the car growth fighting for control it heads to the guardrail but he brings it to a safe stop parking it on the grass right next to the racetrack the car continuing to smoke that's tim gross coming out of the escape hatch and rolling off the top of the car there's billy meyer over to check on gross to see about his condition rose suffering one of the major engine explosions of his career as he approached the finish line the car literally exploded into a ball of flame and in the center of that fireball is tim gross earlier steve showed us how complicated it is to drive one of these cars consider tim gross he's already performed some eight separate maneuvers to this point then the engine explodes now he's got to worry about hitting the fire bottles but most importantly keeping the car under control driving it in his own lane to a safe and upright stop all of this with a fire coming up directly in his face looked like you tried to get it stopped just as quickly as you could to get out of it yeah i did uh obviously that fire came right in on my face so i was doing what i could do to get the fire bottles to activate and all and so when the window's going out letting the fires come in your face it's really hard to contain that fire up front i don't know if the tank exploded yet or not i didn't even look at it yet sorry to see you have all these problems well thank you steven that's part of the game right jim gross out of competition but uninjured protected by the nhra safety rules that have once again done their job the big bud shootout is being brought to you by budweiser that clean crisp taste that says budweiser raceman this fun's for you more first round action of the big bud shootout after this lots of work going on in billy myers pit area as they prepare the car for the semi-final round of the big bud shootout the meyer crew under the direction of mike googer and mark stewart doing all the necessary between rounds maintenance on that 3 000 horsepower engine we're at indianapolis raceway park for the big bud shootout this is round number one action and this is ed mccullough he has the distinction of racing against mark oswald at the wheel of the candies and used pontiac oswald the 1984 nhra world champion from cleves ohio drives the car that is based out of houma louisiana for mcculloch home is hammett california and he drives the oldsmobile ferenza out of the racing team owned by larry miner these cars are here as a result of their qualifying performances throughout the entire season at nhra national event mcculloch is lined up in the far lane of the racetrack in the near lane is mark oswald both cars are ready mcculloch responds first he's off the starting line ahead of mark oswalt but look at the horsepower the candies in here just thunders passed in the finish line to a 5.73 second elapsed time at 258 miles an hour back at the starting line our next pair getting ready this is the car driven by john force a chevrolet cavalier and here is the winner of the big bud shootout back in 1984 tom mckeown after nearly 30 years behind the wheel of drag racing vehicles mckeown enjoying his best season ever he's already won two races this year the cajun nationals down in baton rouge louisiana and the north star nationals of its brainerd minnesota for john force he has yet to win a national event but his qualifying efforts this season put him in a very commanding position here in the big bud shootout for tom mcewen his highest qualifying position came in the two races he has won this season the burnouts are completed both drivers now concentrating on the procedures necessary to get a good start following the directions of their crew man they pull up close to the starting line then they inch forward into the staging beams that go across the racetrack they are light beams when they are in the proper position the two lights on the top of the christmas tree indicate the starter buster couch anytime now you can throw the switch and it's a green light start for both drivers a little bit of smoke but a close race at the finish line john fours by a matter of inches john forced to beat tom mcewen and what a great race it was 5.86 seconds his speed 252 miles an hour let's take a look at this one again it is mcewen in the far lane john force in the near lane they leave the starting line with mcewen getting an ever so slight advantage but john force puts together a great run in the middle of the racetrack he begins to pull ahead of tom mcewen and if he just inches by they near the finish line and there you see it by about a wheel length john force defeats tom mcewen well dave as you saw that race was so close john force you didn't know for sure if you'd want it i didn't know but i was upset from start line i got that old look through the window drive it off again i'm telling paul what are we doing now but he seemed to know and it worked and i i made a move on mcewen then he came back around me again and i'm thinking wow next thing i know i'm in the lights and i'm looking for someone to cure what's wrong with these people down here they gotta let me know who's winning these races well here i am to do just that austin said what to you or showed you what sign he looked at the window and he said she ain't holding on the starting line drive her off again we know she'll muscle and run 67 like she did the other day and how does he tell you that you can't hear him he gives me a little bit of this a little of that and throws in pizzazz like he always does and confuses me but this weekend we got serious he told me what he wanted and uh drove it off and thank god it worked go get him thank you john four is talking about his screw chief austin coyle as if he were a baseball coach in the third base box giving signals to his batter our next bear getting ready to go the defending champion the number one qualifier is in the near lane after kenny bernstein he is racing against johnny west west out of chandler arizona the latest in a long series of drivers for his car owner and crew chief roland leong west in his first full season of nhra national event competition qualified very well for the big bud shootout but he'll need all the performance he can find here today as he is racing the hottest driver on the circuit kenny bernstein in time trials yesterday bernstein ran the fastest time ever by a funny car at over 271 miles an hour bernstein is the reigning world champion and had an incredible season a year ago when he won six nhra national event the new record plus this race the big bud shootout thus far this season he has won two races the grand nationals in canada and the summer nationals in english town new jersey he's the odds-on favorite to repeat as the world champion of bunny cars the lights go green [Music] shootout moves into the semi finals what a disappointment it has to be for the defending champion kenny bernstein moved first the tires instantly lost traction huge clouds of smoke billowed up out of the rear of the car as we see in slow motion replay bernstein had the advantage off the starting line but it went away instantly and johnny west headed to the finish line and took the big win now some confidence when it's on my final well you know we always have a tough round nobody's easy around here so you know as bernstein knows you know nobody can nobody said for sure when so just press right on thank you man johnny west with a bright smile on his face obviously showing the elation of the moment as he took the upset win over the number one qualifier that sets up our semi-final pairings john force against billy meyer meyer has lane choice by virtue of the lower elapsed time of the first round and johnny west may have gone from the frying pan right into the fire he races mark oswalt who had a 5.73 second elapsed time the quickest of the first round of eliminations and this is the legendary austin coyle preparing a piston for the semi-final round of john force's car at the big bud shootout at the big bud shootout i'm dave mcclelland along with steve evans and a huge crowd has jammed into indianapolis raceway park to watch the eight best funny cars in the world do battle we're down to four cars the semi-final round john forest against billy meyer fire in the far lane of the racetrack not using the normal mustang body he destroyed that in that time trial explosion perhaps the most interested spectator amongst this huge crowd is at the far end of the racetrack with steve evans dave joining me down here at the far end is four times funny car world champion don perdum and don the semifinals of the big bud shootout are coming up uh your impressions predictions if you will uh first let's take john forest versus billy meyer well of course you know it just ran very good to romney four and racing myers meyers got a little bit of an advantage so i like to see uh i'd like to see myers have the advantage on the run you know myers had that terrible fire and explosion sometimes it's hard to get back on track after something like that it is but i was surprised he came out so well in the first round that bud shoot out with the 75 and they come back uh i i think he's got a lot of momentum going right now mark oswald and his opponent johnny west mark oswell's my pick uh he's strong mark's uh you know he's been running good all year and he's going very quick the first round i like to see him go all the way all right let's go back to dave mclellan and the semifinals of the big fight shootout and steve as you know don bruno will be back in competition in 1987 and i wouldn't be surprised to see him right here in the midst of the big bud shootout because he always races hard and qualifies very well but the spotlight right now is on these two cars this is billy meyer racing against john force and there's austin coyle what's close maybe you can pick up some of the tips that john force gets from his crew chief by virtue of hand signals that one obviously indicates let's stop and now he says roll it forward again but now austin coyle goes through this procedure relaying to john force what he thinks the driver should do to get the car off the starting line there was the signal the wave from john force he acknowledged it now we'll see if he understood it because as we heard him say sometimes he's just a bit confused by all those hand signals from austin coyle oh what a great start by billy meyer he has a problem we're doing look at the tires look for john horton but force wins the race by a car link as billy meyer had problems after that great start time for force a 5.83 second elapsed time remember though he was smoking the tires in the middle of the course here we see it happen again fire look at him leave he put a whole shot on john flores it was almost like a train link the crew acknowledging meyer is out in front then he has to lift the car going in desire shake and smoke at the tires as his john force but force recovered regained the traction got back on the throttle and by a car length or two won the race over billy meyer well for the second time today john forest has had to come from behind and the way the tires started to haze i really wondered if you were going to be able to do that it wasn't a little drive off that time it was a whole bunch of drive off i mean easy yeah there was no half throttle looking to do she was shaking and she moved out and i'm looking at coil like what's he going to do and i knew he had me he was out of car and i was wanting to put her on the wood and i just every time i do this i choked it and i left it at half throttle and we outguessed them we outlet them beat bernstein beat myers who was that kind of looks like birds yeah it's uh just the brakes for me had he fell it's gonna hurt us so what kind of et we run 583. 83. amazes me what they'll do at half past these little plastic funny cars huh see in the final round john boer is a man that obviously takes a great deal of pleasure and his profession he's into the finals of the big bud shootout he'll race one of these two cars will it be johnny west or will it be mark aqua a dramatic side-by-side burnout to heat up those huge slicks to try to provide as much traction as possible for the some 3 000 horsepower that are generated by these racing engines that use nitro methane for fuel for mark oswald he has been the class of the field thus far he has low elapsed time with their candies and huge pontiac but don't forget johnny west is in an upset mood he just put away the number one qualifier and defending champion kenny bernstein in the first round driving the dodge daytona that's william leon raising the body a crewman going under doing something at the front of the engine nobody has got any kind of frantic moves it appears that it may have been planned but it's very unusual to see them raise the body on these cars once the engines have started and the driver begins this burnout procedure oswald calmly waiting and now johnny west pulls up to the starting line the car owner paul candies directing traffic for oswald roland leon doing the same for johnny west whatever it was that they raise money for it obviously is presenting no problem as west is into the staging teams [Music] look at the elapsed time 5.68 seconds to cover 1320 feet from a standing start we watch again and see johnny west in the far lane just instantly go up in smoke the moment he hit the throttle the huge slick losing traction billowing smoke from then on it was mark oswald all the way with the quickest run of the big butt elimination to 568 mark oswald you go into the final but you know i think lane choice might have been a good factor for you he smoked guitars very hard in that other lane diddy ours was really close the car uh john force's car i noticed on his run pulled to the right real hard and ours did the same thing and i was just lucky enough to recover can you go to the starting line in the final with this kind of horsepower would you maybe back it down a little bit for it's only around at 583. yeah but you know he ran a 66 in qualifying he could step up at any time that runs gonna be at five o'clock it'll be a little cooler the racetrack may be a little better i'm sure we'll try to soften it up just a little bit though good job thank you when we come back 30 000 will be on the line on one single race between mark ockwald and john force as these two face each other down in the finals of the big bud shootout the finals of the big bud shootout mark aqua at the wheel of the candies and hughes pontiac against the chevrolet of john ford 30 000 up for grabs in this single run over a quarter mile distance recognizing the fact that these drivers have been competing for an entire season to earn the right to race in the big bud shootout in this final run the winner will be compensated at a rate of more than fifty two hundred dollars a second or twenty two dollars a foot for the quarter mile run consider that the next time you go in and ask your boss for a raise of course the money has got to increase the pressure on markov and john ford [Music] qualified after a great starting line maneuver when he pulled the head of mark oswald park ran a 572 second elapsed time but it really wasn't important what happened was mark oswald was late off the starting line john forest had the advantage but smoked the tires lost control went across the center line and was disqualified at that point mark oswald the big bud shootout champion thirty thousand dollars richard knowing this young man as i do i would say more than the thirty thousand dollars is the satisfaction he gets today from defeating seven of the best funny cars in all the world and what a valiant opponent he had in the final round john forest mark you did it congratulations thank you we're really really happy for old milwaukee pontiac motorsports you know we're just tickled to death and budweiser for putting on an event like this where we can race for this kind of money you know it was a great it was a great battle and qualifying for it all year you know john force was right there in fact he qualified ahead of me it was just anybody's race he was off the mark first was he yeah it was a good race i saw him i think he came right over the center line and he must have had traction problems our car was a little bit loose but indeed it's a fine day for paul candies leonard hughes and mark oswald the world title and now this quite a career yeah everybody on the cruise just been you know working as hard as they can and we'll be back again tomorrow for the same thing in spite of all that money oswald ready again for another day of racing the big bud shootout has been brought to you by budweiser that clean crisp taste that says budweiser race fans this fun's for you this has been a presentation of diamond b sports

Channel: CompetitionPlusTV

Views: 23,680

Keywords: CLASSIC DRAG RACING, FUNNY CARS, BIG BUD SHOOTOUT, NHRA U.S. NATIONALS, INIDIANAPOLIS, DON PRUDHOMME, KENNY BERNSTEIN, TOM MCEWEN, BUDWEISER

Id: noTl6SgGoIs

Length: 102min 19sec (6139 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020